Republicans Seek to Crush Cohen's Credibility as He Accuses Trump of Criminal Conduct

WASHINGTON – It's been described as the hearing heard around the world – with President Trump overseas trying to bring peace with North Korea, Democrats gave a microphone to a witness on a mission to undermine the president. Trump's ex-lawyer, who once said he would take a bullet for President Trump, instead lambasted the president for hours on Capitol Hill. 

The president's disgraced former personal attorney Michael Cohen, who has been sentenced to prison for lying to Congress, told Congress Wednesday that he lied many times for President Trump and did things he's ashamed of now.

House Republicans repeatedly slammed Cohen as a "liar", looking to undermine his accusations against Trump, accusing Democrats of bringing him in just so they could seek ammunition for impeachment, and using the venue to poke holes in Cohen's credibility before he heads to prison for perjury.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said, "The first announced witness for the 116th Congress is a guy who is going to prison in two months for lying to Congress." 

Cohen's bombshell testimony stopped short of accusing the president of colluding with Russia to win the 2016 election.

In his prepared statement which had been leaked to media outlets, Cohen called President Trump a "cheat" and a "con man."

Congressional Republicans pounced and focused their questioning on Cohen's reliability given his conviction for lying to Congress. But the commander-in-chief's former fixer and personal lawyer maintained he will let Americans decide "who is telling the truth." 

"I am here under oath to correct the record…" Cohen said. 

Cohen's explosive testimony clearly showed intent to damage his former boss, Donald J. Trump. 

"I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist, he is a con man, and he is a cheat," Cohen testified. 

The former fixer accused the commander-in-chief of criminal conduct while in office, and disclosed a reimbursement check from Trump even after he was in the White House, which Cohen claimed was for hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

"He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair and to lie about it to his wife which I did and lying to the first lady is one my biggest regrets," Cohen said.

And he leveled a major accusation that the president had prior knowledge of the 2016 Wikileaks email dump that hurt Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Still, Cohen did not officially connect Trump to any Russia collusion. 

"Questions have been raised about whether I know of direct evidence that Mr. Trump or his Campaign colluded with Russia... I do not," Cohen said. 

On Faith Nation, CBN's Chief Political Analyst David Brody said Cohen's remarks contradict emails and phones calls he's received from Cohen over the years. 

Watch Brody's interview on CBN's Faith Nation below.  Check local listings for Faith Nation on the CBN News Channel. 

And Republican lawmakers pointed to Cohen's own past to punch holes in his testimony.

Cohen faces three years in prison after pleading guilty to breaking campaign finance laws and for previously lying to Congress. 

President Trump fired back at his former fixer even before the testimony, declaring in a tweet from Vietnam that he's not worried about Cohen's testimony and that his former attorney is "lying to reduce his prison time." Cohen said he never asked for a pardon from President Trump and would not accept one if offered.